Isnilon Hapilon

Isnilon Totoni Hapilon (10 March 1968-16 October 2017) was the leader of the Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in the Philippines and a commander of the Islamic State. In 2017, he was killed during the Battle of Marawi.

Biography
Isnilon Totoni Hapilon was born in Maluso, Basilan, Philippines on 10 March 1968, the son of the village imam Hapilon Totoni and housekeeper Haridja Hapilon. He performed poorly in academics, and he joined the Moro National Liberation Front in 1985. Hapilon took up Arabic and madrassa education, and he later joined Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani's Abu Sayyaf group. Janjalani became Hapilon's religious mentor, and Hapilon became a senior leader in the group. In 2008, he was wounded in the hand by the army, while his son was killed. In 2013, he was wounded in a raid on Tipo-Tipo, but he again escaped. The next year, he swore allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and launched attacks on Tipo-Tipo and Marawi in the following years, leading large Islamist forces in an insurgency in the southern Philippines. On 16 October 2017, Hapilon and Omar Maute were killed in an early morning firefight with the army.